Searching for the Quantum Chromodynamic Critical Point

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dc.contributorRatti, Claudia
dc.contributorNoronha-Hostler, Jacquelyn
dc.contributorBittner, Eric R.
dc.contributor.authorMroczek, Débora
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-04T21:43:32Z
dc.date.available2020-08-04T21:43:32Z
dc.date.issued2020-04
dc.description.abstractUnder extreme temperature and density conditions, the quarks and gluons that are normally confined to nucleons are able to move freely in a state known as the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Currently, droplets of QGP can be created experimentally using heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is known from first principle quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculations that the transition from nuclear matter to the QGP is a crossover if the system has a net baryon density of zero, which has been consistent with experimental results. One of the key questions in the field is whether QCD exhibits a first-order phase transition at large baryon densities. In this scenario, a critical point would mark the end of the crossover phase transition and the beginning of the first order line. In this thesis, I detail my study of the implications of the presence of a critical point on the QCD phase diagram. In the first part of this work, I construct a family of equations of state matching lattice calculations at low baryon density, and including a critical point in the correct universality class. I then employ the equation of state I developed in the analysis of a possible critical point signature that can be detected experimentally at RHIC. I also use a Feed-Forward Neural Network to identify critical point configurations that result in inconsistent thermodynamics.
dc.description.departmentPhysics, Department of
dc.description.departmentHonors College
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/6925
dc.language.isoen
dc.relation.ispartofSenior Honors Theses
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectquark-gluon plasma
dc.subjectheavy-ion collisions
dc.subjectequation of state
dc.subjectcritical point
dc.titleSearching for the Quantum Chromodynamic Critical Point
dc.typeHonors Thesis
dc.type.dcmiText
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
thesis.degree.levelBachelors
thesis.degree.nameBachelor of Science

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